


Themes an Variations

by pleeai



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Art Student Keith, creeper Keith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-17
Updated: 2017-07-17
Packaged: 2018-12-03 11:00:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11530818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pleeai/pseuds/pleeai
Summary: Keith is stressing over his Intro to Photography final when, not for the first time, Lance happens by.Just a cute little oneshot.





	Themes an Variations

The third glance at the time on Keith's phone in the past six minutes did not miraculously add a few helpful hours before his photography class. Neither did the fourth.  
In typical mid-west fashion, the weather had taken another turn recently so that he could sit out here in the quiet of the campus quad wearing a hoodie and jeans without feeling too chilled. He always preferred the calm quiet of the outdoors to the stifled quiet of the library. And so Keith was sitting on one of the wide cement benches outside of the campus library, flipping through the stack of photos he had taken over the course of the semester for his Intro to Photography class that met Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.

  
Since it was now, according to the fifth glance at his phone, 12:27, he had just over an hour before he had to be in class with his final project. This should have been an easy assignment, really. All he had to do was select any four of the pictures he'd turned in this semester, with a brief presentation that explained an overlying theme that connected the four photos. Easy. He didn't even have to take any more pictures.

  
Not easy.

  
He'd been staring at this stack of pictures since Tuesday when he'd turned in the previous assignment and been given this one. He picked that photo out and set the rest of the stack on the bench. The project he'd turned in two days ago had been 'Portrait'. He'd struggled with that one a bit, since he wasn't exactly a people person. He thought about making his brother sit for him, but somehow it had seemed a little too awkward. As a freshman, and not from around here, Keith didn't know really anyone on campus at the beginning of the semester other than his older adopted brother, Shiro. Now, he kind of knew a few fellow students, mostly other art students like himself, but wouldn't really call any of them friends.

  
But, when Shiro had decided to drag Keith to some showcase the theater kids were putting on as their final projects, Keith had lucked out. Somehow, this one boy had kept popping up around Keith all semester. The Theater Showcase was no exception.

  
Somewhere in the middle of the show, an older girl with long, silvery white hair had come out and explained her project. Apparently they were each supposed to take a classic work, and give it a unique twist. Keith hadn't really been paying much attention by that point, but he vaguely heard her mention that she had modernized something, and that the character was named Puck.  
And out walked The Boy. Keith swore he didn't seek the lanky, dark skinned Latino boy out; but somehow he always seemed to be on the fringe of Keith's life. And really, was it Keith's fault that the guy was so freaking photogenic? Somehow, the stranger had ended up in about half of Keith's photo projects over the semester.

  
After the show, Keith was waiting while Shiro had wandered off to talk to someone he knew from some class or another. With an impatient sigh, he had turned around and frozen at the sight of the familiar face. He was laughing as he talked to a group of students over by the piano in the corner of the lobby. He was wearing a white, billowy shirt that looked like something from the cover of one of those trashy novels Keith's second foster mother had liked to read, but somehow it didn't look weird on him. Maybe it was because of the flower crown of white roses mixed with some sort of pink fluffy flower, or the dusting of glitter across his cheekbones.

  
Keith didn't even realized he had pulled his camera out of the bag slung over his shoulder until he was had snapped a few quick shots. With a squeak, he had hurriedly shoved the camera back in his bag and glanced around to make sure nobody saw him creepily taking pictures of a stranger.

  
The photo in Keith's hand had turned out better than he could have hoped for. The boy wasn't looking at the camera, but his bright smile was beautiful. He was cropped just below his ribs, one hand brought up delicately in response to some unknown comment.  
Beautiful.

  
Until a sudden gust of wind ripped the picture from Keith's hand, as well as several others off the top of the stack on the bench. He yelped and dove, snatching several from the air before windmilling his arms to catch his balance. When he was no longer in danger of wiping out on the concrete, he snapped his head up to see a couple of pictures still flipping about in the breeze. He scrambled to his feet, barely noting a small cluster of students leaving the library as he dashed after his pictures.

  
The nearest of the students seemed to catch the movement from the corner of their eye, and darted over, managing to catch both photos just as Keith made it to them.  
He heaved a relieved sigh and muttered, "Thanks! I need those for my next class."

  
Keith reached out for the pictures that the short redheaded student had started to extend to them. But then she glanced down at the top image and froze for a second before bringing the picture back to her face and adjusting her glasses to study the picture.

  
"Hey, Lance . . . isn't this you?"

  
She turned back to the rest of her group and held the picture up in their direction. Keith froze. Oh God. Surely not. No way.

  
He turned his head painfully slowly toward the two figures still standing near the library doors. The first one was a big guy in a yellow campus hoodie and cargo pants, a backpack slung over one shoulder as he leaned slightly forward to look at the picture.

  
The second person was a lanky, tan figure that Keith knew instantly.

  
Oh God.

  
'Lance' frowned slightly as he took a step closer, then leaned forward and took the picture from the girl.

  
"Hey, yeah. That's from Allura's showcase thingy this weekend."

  
Keith was frozen. A living statue that would now probably take permanent residence outside the campus library.

  
"And, hey! This one's you too."

  
Crap. His eyes darted down to see the second image the girl had grabbed. It was from the 'Contrast' project last week. There had been a cold snap and Keith had woken up to a couple inches of snow. He'd been walking to his math class when he had looked up to see the boy, Lance, leaning against one of the big maples around the quad. He'd been wearing black jeans and boots under one of those puffy white jackets that should have looked like a tire advertisement on anyone else. Somehow, with the black earmuffs and distant but peaceful expression, Lance had just looked like an advertisement for some designer's winter line.

  
At least this image wasn't so zoomed in. Sure, Lance was full body with one leg bent up and his foot resting against the tree trunk, but he was fairly far away.

  
After glancing over that picture, Lance looked up at Keith in confusion.

  
Somehow Keith snapped out of his frozen state, hands whipping up in front of him in defense as he babbled, "I can explain!"

  
Lance tilted his head, eyes dropping to Keith's hands . . . which were holding the other pictures he'd managed to grab before he nearly fell off the bench earlier. With a gasp, Keith glanced down at those pictures, and started to snap them behind his back, but Lance's hand darted out and grabbed his wrist.

  
"What the heck, dude."

  
Keith groaned and buried his face into his now empty hands.

  
"Like, half of these are of me."

  
Keith hunched his shoulders forward and muttered, "Not . . . quite half."

  
Lance didn't seem to hear him as he continued, "This one is from the Pumpkin Faire last month."

  
Keith opened eye to peak and, sure enough, that was the picture of Lance from behind, walking off with a massive pumpkin under each arm while wearing a blue flannel as he threw a glance over his shoulder.

  
"Uh . . . yep. It is."

  
Lance glanced up at him with a raised eyebrow, "How long have you been stalking me, buddy?"

  
Keith felt the warmth of a blush creep up the back of his neck and to his ears.

  
"I swear, I'm not stalking you! You just . . . were always there when I needed an assignment." He gestured weakly to the pumpkin shot, "That week was 'Color Story'. The blue plaid and the orange pumpkins are complimentary colors. I prefer natural shots, not staged ones. And-"

  
"Holy smokes, dude! This is from Family Weekend! That was like, the third week of the semester!"

  
Lance held one picture up and turned it to Keith as if he didn't know every picture in the stack by heart. Keith had taken that one while Lance was playing frisbee with a girl who could only have been his younger sister. Only Lance was in the shot though, caught mid-air as he dove for the disc. The assignment that week was 'Action Shot'.

  
"Yes?"

  
The big guy had made it over now, studying the pictures over Lance's shoulder. "Bro, you need that Puck one. New profile pic."

  
The girl chimed in, "Ooooh! Yeah! Good call, Hunk!"

  
He grinned, "Thanks, Pidge!"

  
The girl had pulled out her phone and was taking a quick snap of the picture.

  
The blush had now made it to Keith's face, which he was sure was bright red by this point. "Look, I'm sorry. This must be really creepy. But the only people that have seen these are my Prof, the other kids in class, and my brother. After class, I can burn them all. Or give them to you, or . . . whatever you want. You can have the negatives! But I need to turn four of them in for my final in like, fourty-five minutes, if I can decide what to pick."

  
"What's the assignment?"

  
Keith blinked blankly at the other boy for a moment. He didn't seem angry. In fact, his head was tilted in . . .curiosity?

  
"Um, I'm supposed to use four of them, and come up with a unifying theme. But, they're all so random."

  
The girl chimed in, "Seasons."

  
Everyone turned to study her blankly. She rolled her eyes and adjusted her glasses again. She snatched the pile of pictures from Lance's hands and walked over to the bench where the rest of Keith's stuff was still strewn about. She shuffled through them for a moment, then laid four of them out in a line.

  
"See? The four seasons. Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall."

  
She pointed at the Contrast, Portrait, Action, and Color Story pictures as she said each season.

  
"Oh."

  
Lance laughed, "Pidge, you're a genius!" He glanced sideways at Keith and winked, "And so are you, Man! Great shots! Can I really have copies? My Mom will love these."

  
"Uh, sure?"

  
"Great! Here, I'll give you my number. Text me when you're done with them, and we'll meet up, 'kay?"

  
Keith numbly nodded and handed his phone over.

  
"Uh, guys?" Everyone turned to Hunk, "We really need to be getting to English?"

  
"Righto, my main man! See you around, uh . . ."

  
"Keith."

  
"Right! See you around, Keith!"

  
The three of them readjusted backpack straps, and started down the library steps, turning toward the Liberal Arts building when they hit the sidewalk. Keith blinked owlishly after them before looking down at his phone. His contacts were still up, the new one with Lance's name and about a dozen random emojis still highlighted. Then Keith saw the time and cursed, quickly gathering his things and shoving them into his bag before heading off to the Fine Arts building for class.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic posted on this site, please be gentle! I just had this little idea, and had to type it up one day. <3


End file.
